Eaglebrook School
Encyclopedia
Eaglebrook School is an independent junior boarding school
for boys in Deerfield
, Massachusetts. It is located on the Pocumtuck Range
near Deerfield Academy
and sited on a 750 acres (3 km²) campus which is also preserved by the Deerfield Wildlife Trust.
Eaglebrook has a student body of approximately 260 boys in grades six, seven, eight, and nine (forms
3 through 6). Girls may only attend if their parents work or live on campus. Eaglebrook has its own alpine ski area (the Easton Ski Area
), indoor swimming pool and a state-of-the-art hockey rink
arena indoors. Whipple Pond, located in the center of campus, is stocked with trout and bass for fishing in the spring and fall. In the winter the pond serves as the water source for snowmaking. The Chase Learning Center, at the heart of campus, includes classrooms and a multi-purpose assembly area which is called the "Pit". There are two other classroom buildings for science, and for arts, including digital photography
, woodworking
shops, stained glass
and many more.
Part of Eaglebrook School's mission is "to help each boy come into confident possession of his innate talents, improve the skills needed for success in secondary school, and establish values that will allow him to act with thoughtfulness and humanity".
In the 1920s Howard Gibbs asked Roger Langley
, the athletic director, to start a skiing program for students' winter recreation. It was the first full-time junior ski program in the United States.
1928–1966: After Mr. Gibbs’s unexpected death, Thurston Chase, an Eaglebrook teacher and recent Williams College graduate, took over the school. Under his leadership, student enrollment expanded to 165 students, and the physical plant grew to include a gymnasium, tennis courts, learning center, science building, and four new dormitories.
1966–2002: When Thurston Chase retired, his son Stuart Chase ’47, assistant headmaster at New Canaan Country School in Connecticut, became Eaglebrook’s headmaster. Stuart Chase saw the school grow to 175 boarders and 58 day students. While he was headmaster, the school bought 500 adjacent acres and added new playing fields, a track, a modern ski area with snowmaking and a chair lift, two new dormitories, a swimming pool and a hockey rink.
In 2002, Andrew Chase ’73, son of Stuart, grandson of Thurston, and Eaglebrook’s former director of development, became headmaster. He still holds this position.
The campus has undergone extensive massive upgrades since the mid-1990s. Baines House and the Thurston C. Chase Learning Center have been renovated. The Schwab Family Pool, and the McFadden Rink at Alfond Arena and a new track and field facility have been built in the late 1990s, and two new dormitories, Kravis House and Mayer House, were completed in the early 2000s. In 2007, a major renovation was undertaken on Flagler House, Halsted House, and Taylor House. The Learning Center was extensively renovated at that time, also. During the summer of 2010, the Sports Center was renovated, adding two new international squash courts, bringing the total to six, a new student lounge and student fitness room, and a 50-kilowatt solar panel system for the roof of the gym.
Former: Keith House, Macy House, Baines House, Eagle's Nest, the Cubies
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
for boys in Deerfield
Deerfield, Massachusetts
Deerfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,750 as of the 2000 census. Deerfield is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area in Western Massachusetts, lying only north of the city of Springfield.Deerfield includes the...
, Massachusetts. It is located on the Pocumtuck Range
Pocumtuck Range
The Pocumtuck Range, also referred to as the Pocumtuck Ridge, is the northern-most subrange of the Metacomet Ridge mountain range of southern New England...
near Deerfield Academy
Deerfield Academy
Deerfield Academy is an independent, coeducational boarding school in Deerfield, Massachusetts, United States. It is a four-year college-preparatory school with approximately 600 students and about 100 faculty, all of whom live on or near campus....
and sited on a 750 acres (3 km²) campus which is also preserved by the Deerfield Wildlife Trust.
Eaglebrook has a student body of approximately 260 boys in grades six, seven, eight, and nine (forms
Form (education)
A form is a class or grouping of students in a school. The term is used predominantly in the United Kingdom, although some schools, mostly private, in other countries also use the title...
3 through 6). Girls may only attend if their parents work or live on campus. Eaglebrook has its own alpine ski area (the Easton Ski Area
Easton Ski Area
Easton Ski Area, part of the Eaglebrook School, is a small, private alpine ski area located on the western slope of the Pocumtuck Range in Deerfield, Massachusetts.Eaglebrook School's skiing history dates back to 1923...
), indoor swimming pool and a state-of-the-art hockey rink
Hockey rink
An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a team sport. It is rectangular with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall approximately 40 inches high called the boards.- Name origins :...
arena indoors. Whipple Pond, located in the center of campus, is stocked with trout and bass for fishing in the spring and fall. In the winter the pond serves as the water source for snowmaking. The Chase Learning Center, at the heart of campus, includes classrooms and a multi-purpose assembly area which is called the "Pit". There are two other classroom buildings for science, and for arts, including digital photography
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...
, woodworking
Woodworking
Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...
shops, stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
and many more.
Part of Eaglebrook School's mission is "to help each boy come into confident possession of his innate talents, improve the skills needed for success in secondary school, and establish values that will allow him to act with thoughtfulness and humanity".
History
1922–1928: Howard Gibbs, and Amherst graduate and friend of Headmaster Frank Boyden of Deerfield Academy, had a vision for a younger boy’s boarding school that combined a healthy outdoor life with education. He wanted boys to develop their innate abilities, discover new interests, and gain deserved confidence. Eaglebrook Lodge, a sanitarium and former hunting camp on 27 wooded acres in the hills of Western Massachusetts, seemed the ideal place for his school In 1922 Mr. Gibbs bought the property and transformed it and its outbuildings into Eaglebrook School. He enrolled 15 boys that first year.In the 1920s Howard Gibbs asked Roger Langley
Roger Langley
Roger Langley was a president of the United States National Ski Association and a driving force behind the founding of the National Ski Patrol....
, the athletic director, to start a skiing program for students' winter recreation. It was the first full-time junior ski program in the United States.
1928–1966: After Mr. Gibbs’s unexpected death, Thurston Chase, an Eaglebrook teacher and recent Williams College graduate, took over the school. Under his leadership, student enrollment expanded to 165 students, and the physical plant grew to include a gymnasium, tennis courts, learning center, science building, and four new dormitories.
1966–2002: When Thurston Chase retired, his son Stuart Chase ’47, assistant headmaster at New Canaan Country School in Connecticut, became Eaglebrook’s headmaster. Stuart Chase saw the school grow to 175 boarders and 58 day students. While he was headmaster, the school bought 500 adjacent acres and added new playing fields, a track, a modern ski area with snowmaking and a chair lift, two new dormitories, a swimming pool and a hockey rink.
In 2002, Andrew Chase ’73, son of Stuart, grandson of Thurston, and Eaglebrook’s former director of development, became headmaster. He still holds this position.
The campus has undergone extensive massive upgrades since the mid-1990s. Baines House and the Thurston C. Chase Learning Center have been renovated. The Schwab Family Pool, and the McFadden Rink at Alfond Arena and a new track and field facility have been built in the late 1990s, and two new dormitories, Kravis House and Mayer House, were completed in the early 2000s. In 2007, a major renovation was undertaken on Flagler House, Halsted House, and Taylor House. The Learning Center was extensively renovated at that time, also. During the summer of 2010, the Sports Center was renovated, adding two new international squash courts, bringing the total to six, a new student lounge and student fitness room, and a 50-kilowatt solar panel system for the roof of the gym.
Governance
Eaglebrook is owned by the Allen-Chase Foundation, a nonprofit educational trust. Andrew Chase is a descendant of the Allen and Chase families, both leaders in 19th-century American education. The foundation receives gifts from parents, friends, and alumni of the school and uses those gifts to enhance facilities, create endowed chairs for many faculty positions, provide a fund for professional development, and maintain a scholarship program.Dormitories
- Flagler House
- Halsted House
- Kravis House – Named after Henry KravisHenry KravisHenry R. Kravis is an American businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm with over $62 billion in assets as of 2011. He has an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion as of September 2011, ranked by Forbes as the 88th richest...
- Mayer House – Named after trustee Gerry Mayer
- Taylor House
Former: Keith House, Macy House, Baines House, Eagle's Nest, the Cubies
Notable alumni
- King Abdullah II of JordanAbdullah II of JordanAbdullah II ibn al-Hussein is the reigning King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He ascended the throne on 7 February 1999 after the death of his father King Hussein. King Abdullah, whose mother is Princess Muna al-Hussein, is a member of the Hashemite family...
- Michael BeschlossMichael BeschlossMichael Richard Beschloss is an American historian. A specialist in the United States presidency, he is the author of nine books.- Early life :...
- Henry BromellHenry BromellHenry Bromell is an American author, screenwriter, and director.Bromell attended Eaglebrook School and the United World College of the Atlantic . He graduated from Amherst College in 1970. He won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Award for his first novel, The Slightest Distance...
'63, author, television writer/producer - Doug BurdenDoug BurdenDoug Burden is an American rower.- References :* at sports-reference.com...
- Cameron DouglasCameron DouglasCameron Morrell Douglas is an American actor.- Early life and family :Douglas was born in Santa Barbara, California, the elder son of actor Michael Douglas and only child of Diandra Morrell Douglas and grandson of actor Kirk Douglas and Bermudian actress Diana Dill. He has appeared in four films:...
'93 actor - Michael DouglasMichael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
'60, actor, director - Peter DuchinPeter Duchin-Life and career:Duchin was born in New York City, the son of pianist and band leader Eddy Duchin. His mother was Marjorie Oelrichs, a Newport, Rhode Island and New York City socialite who died unexpectedly when he was just five days old. He was raised by close family friends, statesman W...
, pianist, orchestra leader - Thomas HovingThomas HovingThomas Pearsall Field Hoving was an American museum executive and consultant and the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.-Biography:...
, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the... - Henry KravisHenry KravisHenry R. Kravis is an American businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm with over $62 billion in assets as of 2011. He has an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion as of September 2011, ranked by Forbes as the 88th richest...
'60, investment banker, philanthropist - David LawrenceDavid LawrenceDavid Lawrence may refer to:*David Lawrence, pseudonym of English poet & TV scriptwriter David Harsent *David Lawrence , Canadian actor *David Lawrence , English cricketer...
- Lewis "Scooter" LibbyLewis LibbyI. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a former adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, later disbarred and convicted of a felony....
'65 - George Macomber
- Rusty MageeRusty MageeBenjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee was an accomplished composer and lyricist for theatre, television, and film and commercials.-Childhood and Education:...
'70 - Laurence MarkLaurence MarkLaurence Mark is a film producer and educated at Eaglebrook School, Hotchkiss School and Wesleyan University from which he graduated in 1971. He also has a Master of Arts degree in Film from New York University...
'64 film producer - Mark Whitney MehranMark Whitney MehranMark Whitney Mehran is an author, business owner, land speed racer, Hot Rod and Chopper builder and Pinstriper. Born and raised in California, Mehran attended Eaglebrook School and Cate School, and graduated from Brown University with an honors degree in English and American...
- Eugene F. Rice, Jr.Eugene F. Rice, Jr.Eugene Franklin Rice, Jr. was an American historian specializing in the Church Fathers, Early Modern Europe, and Western homosexualities....
- Duncan SheikDuncan SheikDuncan Scott Sheik is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik initially found success as a singer, most notably for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing". He later expanded his work to include compositions for motion pictures and the Broadway stage, leading him to involvement in the...
'86 - Vin SuprynowiczVin SuprynowiczVin Suprynowicz is a U.S. libertarian columnist who writes editorials for the Las Vegas, Nevada based Las Vegas Review-Journal. He is the author of two nonfiction compilations of his newspaper columns: Send In the Waco Killers and The Ballad of Carl Drega...
'65, libertarian newspaper columnist - Chris Waddell, Paralympics skiing champion
- Jason WuJason WuJason Wu is a Manhattan-based Taiwanese American fashion designer.-Biography:Born in Taiwan, Wu moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at age nine and attended Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Massachusetts and Loomis Chaffee, in Windsor ,Connecticut. He learned how to sew by designing and...
, fashion designer
External links
- Eaglebrook School – Official site